Five Times August

A soundtrack for these last few years is a series of songs with videos by Brad Skistimas, the solo singer-songwriter known for over twenty years as Five Times August. When “God Help Us All” showed up again recently and tugged the heart of Lynn Thompson, your host, it was time to investigate. Who is this guy? She checked out his website and media links, learned about his musical career, watched interview videos, and found out he is married with three children. Five Times August released his album Silent War on November 1, 2022 on vinyl, cassette, and CD.

Here is a summary article from the hour long podcast that features acoustic versions of his performance of "Silent War" at Defeat the Mandates, his music video of "Jesus ... What Happened to Us?" and his collaborative video with footage from Oracle Films, "Fight For You."

Brad, welcome to Living on Purpose. How did you feel hearing your songs played in Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy in early 2022?

“The greatest thing about watching the Trucker Convoy was getting videos of people playing my songs there. The first person who arrived the night before the protests began parked outside the Parliament buildings and played my song, ‘Silent War.’ It was echoing across the street in the dark. That was really meaningful to me. When things became pretty lively, I was getting videos of people dancing to ‘I Will Not Be Leaving Quietly.’ That’s what I wanted out of that song. A song that people could take with them to these rallies and bang on a trash can and have a good time while making their point. It’s so rewarding to see that movement happening in Canada and for my songs to be part of it.”

Did you have a plan for your most recent album?

“I started releasing these songs as singles in January 2021 with ‘God Help Us All,’ the first in this series of what you would call protest songs. I didn’t consider myself a protest artist. I thought that would be my one song on the entire matter. But it resonated so well with people I felt I should keep going and using my platform in this way. It was therapeutic, too; I knew I wasn’t alone. I didn’t rush any of it. I just let each song come to me, delivered through me, I feel. Months passed before I released ‘Jesus ... What Happened to Us?’ in April that year. As each song came, the process happened over a couple of weeks, where I would write and record it. I recorded most of the songs in my bedroom with a couple of mics. I wanted to give people something honest and unpolished. After I recorded a song, I would make a video for it, however long that took, a week or two. The videos were an extension of what I wanted to say. There’s a whole video album to go along with the audio! The track listing of Silent War is in the order that I wrote and released each song, so the story of that era is told as you listen. I wrote it in real-time in front of the world. It’s been tremendous watching the support of the album, seeing people connect and resonate with those songs over the last couple of years.”  

What’s the story about the videos with your songs?

“I’ve partnered with Oracle Films on a few with their footage from rallies. We collaborated on the ‘I Will Not Be Leaving Quietly’ and ‘Fight for You’ videos. Otherwise, I’ve created and edited the other more animated videos, like ‘Sad Little Man,’ ‘This Just In,’ and ‘Gates Behind the Bars.’ I start with a loose idea, and eventually, it all comes together. I get nerdy frame by frame with many details no one will see the first time around. I’m glad people pick up on it. That’s the great reward, ‘Oh, did you see this? I have to watch that again.’ The work pays off.”

How have you and your family shifted with the change in your musical career?

“I’m very blessed that my family is supportive of what I do. Before the COVID era, I was making children’s music, family-based, character-building theme music about kindness and gratitude. I was doing a project called The Juicebox Jukebox, making the purest stuff I could put into the world, a complete 180 from being an angry protest artist or however you want to classify me. My kids were involved in helping make that music. All of a sudden, I wasn’t doing it anymore. I didn’t want my children to listen to this new group of songs. They’re just children. It’s a shame that we’re almost four years deep into this thing, and it’s been such a huge part of our kids’ lives, right? I was trying to keep that out of their minds. Then, little by little, the world crept in, like going to a park and it being closed. Questions kept happening, and then I was doing bigger events. When I performed at the Defeat the Mandates rally in January of 2022 in Washington, DC, my kids watched online and knew something bigger was happening with Daddy’s music. Then we explained more of what was happening in the world and why Daddy was singing the songs.”

What’s the story behind “Ain’t No Rock and Roll”?

“I love music. That’s my entire life. If I’m not writing it, I’m buying it. I grew up listening to protest music. ‘Ain’t No Rock and Roll’ is me coming to terms with my heroes not being heroes after all. Very few of them spoke up. We’ve heard Eric Clapton and Van Morrison from that generation say something. Two guys out of the entire generation? That’s a pretty pathetic number. I applaud them for doing so. But now we must go back and reevaluate our attention to pop culture and media and say, ‘Well, was it true?’ Even for my generation, we had the grunge era with Nirvana and Pearl Jam. That’s been the entire joke the last year: Rage Against the Machine is now Raging for the Machine. We should scrutinize these anti-establishment movements in the last 60 to 70 years of rock and roll and ask, ‘Where were you on this one?’ The song is saying, ‘Why didn’t you show up? Why are you doing a Pfizer commercial?’ Where are all the anti-establishment artists?”

Are you collaborating with other musicians and artists?

“I went to Austria last December and the UK in August for freedom-focused events. The Jam for Freedom in the UK was three days full of music with freedom-minded musicians and speakers who were there for you the last few years—the same thing with Austria. We’re so distant from each other but experienced the same thing, so it’s like we’ve known each other for years. We’ve found a new community. One of the great things about the artistic community is that we’re getting to know each other and collaborating. We’re all working toward a similar messaging goal for the world and our kids.”

What is that message?

“The overall message is that this is worth fighting for. You have to be willing to risk everything you’ve got, or else there won’t be anything to risk in the future. It’s our kids’ lives we’re talking about, not just ours. It dawned on me early in speaking out that this battle is for the rest of our lives. The mess created over only a three-year cycle has been detrimental. We’ll be cleaning it up for generations. So, you have to risk everything. And you must be willing to say ‘No’ the next time it comes around. Had we all done that the first time, we wouldn’t be in this deep. I maintain that underneath all this darkness is the best time to be alive. We have to fight for it. There’s a beautiful world with communities forming. A handful of goons behind the scenes are ruining it for the rest of us. But there are more of us than them.”

How does your family know about vaccine injury?

“I have three children, six, nine, and eleven. My wife and I have been part of the medical freedom movement since long before COVID. When our eldest son was a baby, he cried uncontrollably, and they never told us he was vaccine-injured. We went down that rabbit hole. After going through several doctors, one finally said, ‘Well, that’s from his early childhood shot.’ He still gets these migraines in his eye that wipe him out. In the last two years, when I hear stories of the vaccine-injured, they’re gut-punching, especially when a parent has lost a child. Pretending that nothing has happened, as if every single person who got that shot is okay, is evil. That’s what we’re up against.”

What gives you hope?

“Like I said, there are communities now, pockets of communities worldwide. People who wonder what’s wrong with the world need to know they’re not alone. They need to know these communities exist. It’s scary when you start speaking out. I’ve had this conversation with many musicians. When we started speaking out through our music, we knew we were going to lose friends. But I have much better friendships now. And I take such confidence in that and knowing there’s a worldwide community in place to support me in any situation. To me, that is the solution: we continue to get stronger.”

Do you have a vision for your recent album?

“I look at Silent War as the beginning of a trilogy. Now, we are in the battle. The other side is that victory I hold on to, and hopefully, there will be an album of victory songs at the end of all of this that we can celebrate with.”

What was your impression of Canada in January-February 2022?

“While I was admiring the Canadian protests, watching it happen in real-time as people were sharing their videos on social media, I was inspired to write ‘This Just In.’ Somebody needed to call out Justin Trudeau for running away because it was such a pathetic thing to do. The song is also to show my support for Canada. Some fans there made me an honorary Canadian citizen. I peeked into Canada many years ago when I attended a conference. Hopefully, at some point, I can get there to perform and meet those fans.”

 

Check out Bob Moran's artwork for the single of "Fight for You," and the preview of Bob's documentary with "Anti-Fascist Blues" by Five Times August. At first, Brad created twelve parody songs, including "We Didn't Spread the Virus" (Billy Joel Parody) 2020 and "I Will Learn (1,000 Things)" Parody of "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers.

Five Times August is the music created by Dallas, Texas-based singer/songwriter/guitarist Bradley James Skistimas, who admires the Druthers newspaper based in Canada.

Featured on The On Purpose Podcast (Living on Purpose) on Monday, October 23, 2023.